Description
Book SynopsisThe first monograph on Islamic hospitals, this volume examines their origins, development, and architecture; their role in charity networks and political projects; and their connections to non-Islamic institutions. Ahmed Ragab sheds light on who medieval hospital patients were and how early hospital medicine differed from other forms of medical practice.
Trade Review'… specialist and non-specialist alike will be enthralled by much of what the author has to tell them, as he unveils a medieval hospital world far too little known even to Islamicists, let alone historians of medieval Europe.' History Today
Table of ContentsIntroduction; Prologue: a tale of two bīmāristāns; Part I. Building a Bīmāristān: 1. From Jerusalem to Damascus: the monumental bīmāristāns of the Levant; 2. Reclaiming the past: the (new) bīmāristāns of Egypt; 3. 'The best of deeds': medical patronage in Mamluk Egypt; Part II. Physicians and Patients: 4. Theory and practice: the reign of the bīmāristān physicians; 5. 'A house for king and slave': the patients of the bīmāristān; Conclusion; Annex: who built the first Islamic hospital?
